Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #139809 in Books
• Published on: 1996-12-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Synopsis
A guide to awareness meditation methods offers a program for coping with illnesses as well as everyday stress.

Customer Reviews

Great Book
This is a great resource for people who suffer from any type of chronic (long-term) health problems. It is based on the author's experience with thousands of people who have participated in a course called the Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program at the Univ. of Massachusetts Medical Center. Full Catastrophe Living: How to Cope with Stress, Pain and Illness Using Mindfulness Meditation is intended to be that program rolled up into a book.

The book's tool is mindfulness meditation- a form of meditation originally developed in the Buddhist traditions- defined as a moment-to-moment awareness. Through mindful meditation, one can gain new kinds of control and wisdom in their lives. The book is very "hands on", so don't expect to just read it and be done with it. For example, you'll be doing things such breathing exercises or yoga postures (I can also recommend Exercise Beats Depression as another good resource for those struggling with depression).

Since the mind plays a factor in stress-related disorders, and very undertreated in Western medicine, I feel like this book will fill a much needed niche for many people. With over five-hundred pages, there's plenty of wisdom here to suck up.

The most important book I have ever read!
I read this book eight years ago and I found it to be so valuable that I read it again two years later. To this day, I continue to reference certain chapters from time to time and eight years after first reading it, I continue to practice the techniques I learned from the book.

Grounded in scientific research, Jon Kabat-Zinn explores the connections between mind and body to the point where there is no longer any obvious division between the two. This book offers the reader access to a new way of living that is rooted in mindfulness. The instructions offered are easy to understand. This book is primarily intended for those facing chronic or terminal illness or emotional pain, but it can really benefit a far more general audience - those who want to live their lives more fully.

Easy to access and jargon free guide.
It's a large book but it is free from space-filling patronising stories that seem to be a feature of this kind of book from the States. It is sensible and credible and worth the time to sit down with it and follow the various exercises.